Behind the Scenes: Rules of Engagement

by on March 26, 2013 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Behind the Scenes, Blog, News

[dc]P[/dc]repare thyself for another view behind the curtain. No, not the wizard kind of curtain, but the how I draw comics curtain. There’s no wizard, but it is probably just as a scary, and there might be a flying monkey or two.

Here is a look at the blue lines for last week’s Rules of Engagement comic.

comic blue lines

Sloppy! Photo by me.

As I mentioned before, my pencil lines are pretty sloppy. Give the Tasmanian Devil a pencil and that’s pretty much my drawing style. I am working on drawing slower, smoother lines though. If you missed the last Behind the Scenes, I draw with a Prismacolor Col-Erase 20060 Indigo Blue pencil.

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Drawing on Takeout Boxes with a Ballpoint Pen

by on March 24, 2013 at 10:33 pm
Posted In: Blog, Humor

[dc]I[/dc] love drawing on takeout/to-go restaurant containers with a ballpoint pen. It is one of those ‘little things’ I enjoy. I partook in such a thing tonight, as Steph and I joined our friends Benedict and Laura for dinner (see previously: They Only Come Out For Garage Sales).

not mickey mouse

A totally original character. Drawing by me.

As would be expected, I resorted to my usual twisted sense of humor, much to, I’m sure, our friends’ enjoyment (it was their leftovers). I don’t know what is about ballpoint pens on foam boxes, but I just like it. Maybe I should do a gallery showing consisting only of comics drawn on foam takeout box lids.

Steph critiqued my poor drawing while I was mid-render, specifically about my off-model Mickey Mouse’s (then) tiny feet. “Is that what Mickey’s feet look like?” She took the pen away and finished the shoes herself. Don’t stand in her way when it comes to drawing off model Mickeys.

I take full credit for the scowl and cigar however. And the ‘Up yours!’ which I feel doesn’t get yelled by cartoon mice enough these days.

For those keeping score at home, tonight’s dinner was same place where Steph and I were going when I popped the question last Spring.

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Behind the Scenes Comic: Portion Control

by on March 21, 2013 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Behind the Scenes, Blog

[dc]I[/dc] need to get back to having Behind the Scenes blog posts more often. So, here’s my first in too long–on last week’s comic, Portion Control. As I said, my original plan for the back-to-back eyeball shots was to do the inverse effect by hand. That didn’t happen. I ended up doing it in Photoshop.

Here’s a shot of how far I got.

behind the scenes comic photo

Yeah, never mind. Photo by me.

As you can see, I did my best to match the look/layout of the first eyeball. But, sometimes the easier solution (in this case, the Inverse effect in Photoshop) is the best.
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NCAA Bracket Madness: Billikens All the Way

by on March 19, 2013 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Blog, Humor

[dc]I[/dc] am the last person who should fill out an NCAA Basketball tournament bracket. I know next to nothing about basketball, and even less about college teams (insert joke about the Big Ten having 12-14 teams). Yet, each year, friends give in to the siren song of March Madness and ask me to fill out a tournament bracket–even though it is akin to asking a NASCAR fan to write a dissertation on the importance of right turns.

This year, the sucker friend in question was writer-pal Gavin. He tweeted an offer to join his March Madness pool (just for fun, cuz I ain’t payin’ for such a thing) and fill out a bracket. I figured, why not?

ncaa bracket

Bracket mastery.

After a good 13 seconds scanning the team names, ignoring all records and such, I went to work. I make my bracket picks using an elaborate, constantly evolving, multi-tiered system. Think of it as the Calvinball version of bracketology:

  1. Which mascot would win in a fight.
  2. If it is a human (or humanoid) mascot, I take into account any visible, or implied weapons, and add a ‘human intelligence’ modifier.
  3. Which team is ‘cooler,’ based on a sliding scale of coolness.
  4. If I am hungry, and filling out the bracket keeps me from eating.
  5. Any team mascot of an occult or magical background gets a boost, because, y’know magic.
  6. A ‘just because’ modifier so said team wins, because I don’t care about things like Records, Points, reputation, history of wins, etc.
  7. If my cat is looking at me or not. If he is, cat-themed mascots get a slight modifier.

I would love to have done a team by team, round by round breakdown of the tournament, but there are too many dang teams. I’ll get right to the good bits.

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